No Big Loss

Rose Byrne doesn’t win this year’s Golden Globes. No big deal; the award lost much of its bite this year because of the continuing writer’s strike. On the other hand, they rewarded what the show i thought deserved to win — Mad Men, which i referenced in a previous post on microeconomics.

At least the DVD of Sunshine, her very interesting sci-fi movie, is finally out.

No Golden Globes

Its official. Darn it. Rose will have to be nominated again, post-strike.

Damages most nominated TV Drama at the Golden Globes!

And hurray for Rose for her Best Supporting Actress Nomination! (see here )

Above is one of the few times when she is actually smiling on the show.

Damages is Picked Up — hear that Hollywood on Strike?

Damages is picked up for 2 more seasons, a total order of 24 episodes. More of Rose Byrne will be very welcome. On other Rose Byrne news, her Canadian indie flick “Just Buried” premiered a few months ago at the Toronto Film Festival. To quote a review:

The young Mr. Baruchel takes a little warming up to here, but by the time we sink knee-deep into Oliver’s corpse-laden activities, we’ve grown just enough affection for the guy to make the material work. Even better is Australian actress Rose Byrne, who creates a scheming mortician gal who’s equal parts lovable, unpredictable … and maybe just a little creepy.

Back to Damages. The finale was very interesting and clearly delineates what the direction of the new season would be. Over-all though, the series was boring from eps 3 to 7, and then became more interesting until its thrilling finale. I agree with several web commentators that, as written, it would have been better for the show to have been structured as a 6 to 7 episode mini series.

So all we need are for the writers and studios to get together to share the new media pie.

From an economics perspective, this strike is very interesting. I’ll write another post about it soon. But from a fan-boy perspective, this strike sucks.

Riding the Wave

In an earlier post on Rose Byrne, i said that deliberately taking a break from an acting ‘wave’ can be extremely costly. Looks like my armchair theorizing was right on the money:

RIDING THE WAVE: “Damages” star Rose Byrne reports the series’ company is down to four more episodes to shoot of the hit Glenn Close-Ted Danson legal thriller for the season, and “right now I’m so immersed I can’t quite see the light. I might spend some time in L.A. and try to get a film gig. I might take a break. If we go back for a second season, that wouldn’t be till January. I haven’t had a break since before we shot ‘28 Weeks Later’” last year, says the beautiful Australian actress. “This kind of a run is incredible for an actor. I don’t want to stop because I’d be terrified that would be the end. You have to go with momentum in acting careers.”

I’m pleased that Rose is having a great run. Also, a few words on fandom. Its strange yet comforting to find a strong international community of Rose Byrne fans on the web. We all think she’s beautiful, has great style, charming, and imbued with talent. Also, for most, we seem to have been introduced to her after having seen her in ‘Wicker Park’ and ‘Troy’ in 2004. Well, for me it was more like 2005 (the Philippines gets these movies a little later than the US and other countries).

I still remember the first time i saw her. It was her guest appearance in Late Night with Conan O’Brien to promote Wicker Park. I thought to myself, ‘Who is this girl?’ She was smart and charmed the pants off of Conan and myself. The very next day, i went to the mall to rent a copy of Wicker Park.

Rose Byrne in ‘The Dead Girl’

The realization that the dead girl is not her sister sinks in.

The first movie of Ms. Byrne’s that i’ll write about is 2006’s “The Dead Girl”. This movie is Karen Moncrief’s follow-up to “Blue Car”, a story about an English Teacher’s seduction of his High School student. Its also been screened at AFI and nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards.

This time around, she makes a movie about a prostitute who is killed by a serial killer. Her death reverberates and affects the lives of three strangers as well as her mother, mostly for the good.

Its a movie made up of five seemingly unrelated vignettes, around 17 minutes each. Each story is about a woman who is affected by the death. All the actors in this film do a wonderful job — each chapter is very sad and heavy, but thanks to the acting and writing, you feel good like after a good cry. There is nothing like grief, tragedy and the promise of redemption to make for good dramatic fodder. This movie is like catnip for actors.

Let me mention briefly the acting caliber involved. Aussie Toni Collete plays the woman who finds the body, which helps her free herself her abusive mother (Piper Laurie) and connect with a new love (Giovanni Ribisi). Mary Beth Hurt stars as ‘the wife’ who learns a terrible secret about her husband (Nick Searcy). Marcia Gay Harden is the dead girl’s mother who learn ex-post about her daugther and grand-daughter from another prostitute (Kerry Washington). Brittany Murphy is the dead girl, who is killed by a serial killer as she tries to get to her daughter.

Listening to the DVD commentary, its clear that Ms. Moncrief didn’t have problems getting the performances she wanted!

But i really rented this film for Rose Byrne, and is now my favorite of her dramatic performances. Ms. Moncrief calls her ‘magnificent’ and that her beauty is something that renaissance painters would die for. Even without makeup (which is true in the film), she is arresting.

Rose plays Leah, a forensics grad student who believes that the dead girl is really her sister who was abducted some 15 years ago. While the rest of her family (her mother is played by Mary Steenburgen) continues to search, she is now in the grip of a powerful depression because she hasn’t been able to live her own life. With the arrival of the dead girl that she has reason to believe is her sister, her burden is lifted and is able to continue with her life. But her hopes are dashed because the dead girl isn’t really her sister. This time, thanks of the promise of life and love (symbolized by the incipient relationship with James Franco), she is able to finally grieve.

Its a simple story and the most accessible to me because, while i’ve never had the fortune of befriending a prostitute, i can imagine grieving over a loss and trying to move on.

As an amateur student of film, i also noted that Ms Moncrief used a few stylistic tricks to great effect. To capture the idea of loneliness and sadness, she used a color palatte of blues as well as shooting Rose in frames or against negative space (as if to show her isolation). Very cool. See a couple of shots below:

Here, she is seperated by a frame.

Notice the negative space on the left.

The shots above are from the second scene from the movie where she confesses her loneliness and hopes to her psychiatrist. She describes what she imagines ‘moving on’ would look like. In the commentary, Ms Moncrief was full of praise for Rose, particularly for this scene. She said that while this scene was being shot, the set would hush up because they knew great dramatic work was being done.

When she suspects that the dead girl is her sister, the shots changes, and more color is added in. In the shot below, she talks with fellow student James Franco and surrenders to his warmth and humor.

Note the lights around her face, as color enters her life again.

When her hope is dashed, she collapses again into self-pity. Below, she is overcome with sadness and the director shoots her again in a frame. Note her reflection on the window and her eyes welling up.

But this time around, she fights back. She argues with her mother and says that its time to let go. Her chapter concludes with Leah burning the newspaper clippings of her sister’s dissappearance and finally begins grieving.

She looks on as she burns the clippings.

In this final shot, she calls James Franco’s character after burning the clippings, and says “Please help me” Great Ending!

The Opportunity Cost of Teeth

Rose Byrne is a gifted actress, and as the photograph suggests, extremely beautiful. I may be biased, but i’m not alone. In an interview, she says she gets typecast as a victim because of her droopy eyes. If producers are typecasting her thusly, its unfortunate; i’ve seen her in comedies and dramas, and her droopy eyes can communicate whatever it is that’s required by the role.

While she’s almost perfect, there is one physical problem with her face. In this case, its her teeth. I’ve noticed recently that one of her lower teeth is misaligned. A casual observer wouldn’t notice this at all, as the lower lip mostly obscures it even when she smiles.

At first blush, this is a puzzle. Rose’s looks are her stock and trade. As an actress, she has all the incentive and the means to fix her lower teeth alignment problem. I consulted a friend whose knowledge of braces is rivaled only by her love of pleather dogs. Its clear that the cure would be worse than the disease; braces would be invasive, jarring and obvious.

This would be the kiss of death for a working actress.

My teeth-sage of a friend also led me to discover a new product Invisalign. This seems to be the product for her. I’m sure she’s aware of it, and maybe over time we’ll see a change if you know where to look.

As a fan, I’m a firm believer that imperfection makes a beautiful woman even more breathtaking. I’m happy her lower teeth are slightly askew. It makes her more real to me, as i have mis-aligned teeth as well.

Rose Byrne in ‘Damages’

Not everything will be about economics. Writing is writing is writing. So i might as well write about my fascination with Rose Byrne.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been following the career of an Australian actress named Rose Byrne. Being in California allows me to indulge in my fandom. I’ll be writing about the Rose Byrne ‘canon’ over the next couple of weeks. I expected blind devotion to this actress, however, in the cold light of day her movies contain as many misses as hits. Still, in all the movies of hers I’ve seen so far, her talent has been able to save the day, and sometimes the picture.

But that’s the movies, and this time — the first time I’m writing about her — it will be about the TV legal serial “Damages” on FX [the cable version of Fox]. A short detour about her career. In the US, Rose is an unknown. She almost became famous three years ago in the heels of twin American movie “Troy”, where she famously shared the screen with Brad Pitt. Until now, two years hence, whenever she gets interviewed, she still gets asked about kissing Brad Pitt. I can’t imagine how sick of it she must be.

After Troy, a lot of people (probably Rose herself) got really excited about her career. Unfortunately, the buzz fizzled, stardom stalled. She ended up working on several movies, the most recent are the sci-fi flicks “28 Weeks Later” and “Sunshine”. If you haven’t heard of these movies, don’t blame yourself – the marketing behind these movies are small, the box office returns are similar.

So, with a movie career that’s low on wattage (but a few great parts nonetheless!), how can someone like Rose become famous? Take the back alley, TV. In ‘Damages’, she takes on the role of ambitious and brilliant law school grad Ellen Parsons, and is second billing to high stakes litigator Patty Hughes (movie great Glenn Close).

Well, that’s what we’re repeatedly told in the pilot, i.e. 1) that she’s bright and ambitious and like her mentor and boss Patty, and 2) Patty is a bad-ass torts lawyer who will ‘own you’. They spend a lot of time with number 2, and I’m convinced. Watching the Glenn Close is character is delicious fun. Its no secret that its so much more fun to play and write for a morally ambiguous character. She has all the best lines, and drops witticisms and craven advice like she has a lifetime supply in her basement. Her knowledge borders on the ominiscient. She is the God in this little universe, and everyone she shares the screen must be put in their place.

Including her new would-be protégé Ellen. Of course, this shouldn’t be the case for the whole of the series, for the sake of the show and for Rose Byrne’s career. To be an interesting challenge to Patty, Ellen must be every bit as ambitious and intelligent as everyone around her claims. So far, none of this purported brillance is in evidence. Her aha! moment of stumbling onto Patty’s plan is largely unexplained – it seemed that as she was explaining it to her onscreen boyfriend, she was trying to convince herself of it too! In a critical scene as Patty was talking about her familiy, Ellen’s replies were borderline inane: Patty was telling her about her problems with her son, Ellen says “I’m sure you are (a good parent)”. Huh?

One can only hope that this will change starting episode 2. From the reviews available on the web, i am optimistic. Currently the other strong character in this show is Ted Dansons’ Arthur Frobisher, a business tycoon. Both Frobisher and Hughes seem to be locked in a conflict larger than the legal battle about to ensue. But the key relationship here must be between Ellen and Patty, and right now Ellen is not holding up her end of the deal. I like one line, where Patty says: “You know what I like about you? There’s always something going on… you don’t fall for bullshit”. Perhaps, I can’t wait until Ellen finally steps to the plate.

The central legal conflict in the show is between Patty and Frobisher, a billionaire accused of insider trading. This ripped-off-the-headlines case isn’t the sexiest of McGuffin’s, which is probably why they led the show with a bloody, half-naked Rose Byrne stumbling through New York at 7am. Indeed, the preview of the future episodes suggests that insider trading may be the least of the crimes in this legal serial, which may include murder, extortion and other goodies. By the end of its 13 episode first season, the link between why Ellen was found in such a disheveled state, the Frobisher trial, and the depths of Patty Hughes depravity will be revealed.

Below: Close and Byrne in Damages Press Conference, a screenshot from the show